Master’s Project: Chang’e

Here’s #13 of my Digital Media Studies Master’s Project. Chang’e is the name of the Chinese lunar program, which has consisted of 3 spacecraft so far with more in the works. Chang’e 1 and 2 were orbiters, but this poster focuses on Chang’e 3, which landed on the surface of the moon in December. It was the first probe to soft-land on the moon since the USSR sent Luna 24 in 1976 — yes, first in almost 40 years — and carried the “Yutu” rover.

The rover was designed to last for 3 months, including stints in sleep mode during each two-week-long lunar night. Near the end of its second lunar day in late January, the rover suffered a failure in the control circuit that prevents it from moving and from folding its appendages to go into sleep mode. On March 14 it awoke again for its 4th lunar day, and although it still can’t move, the instruments onboard (including a ground-penetrating radar designed to measure the structure of lunar soil) still function.

All in all I’m pretty happy with this one. I feel like all of my spacecraft on all of my posters look a little flat and could use some texture, but overall it’s good enough.

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I'm Sarah, a NASA engineer by day and quilter by night. I live in Houston with my husband and our two young daughters. I've had this ol' blog for more than 15 years, and these days it's home to my quilting work, snippets of family life, and occasional musings on my engineering career.